Wet socks and such...

Clapham High Street

Clapham Common-check out the guy running that looks like he's about to be hit by oncoming traffic. This is how I feel everytime I cross the road!

Even in the cases where they tell me which way to look...

These flags aren't just to show England pride. They are to show World Cup fever!

So I have to admit that I've been fairly boring the last few days. This enitre week is supposed to be rainy from morning to late afternoon, so I've taken this time to catch up on episodes of American shows that they get over here-mainly Friends and Glee (and some Reaper-bet you don't even know that is, I sure didn't!). As I'm going to be here for 5 1/2 months, I don't feel pressured to cram in seeing all the sights just to get wet socks--which I hate.

Yesterday, Bob and I went for a walk down to Clapham High Street by way of winding confusing roads (not by the South Circular route which I am more familiar with). When we finally got there, I couldn't even tell you which way we went or where on the Common we had landed.

Today, I got a little stir crazy and decided that we should go into Balham to buy me some nail polish. Bob was all ready to let me go by myself until I asked which way got me to Balham.haha. He decided to come with me. It started pouring when we got to the end of the road, so we took the bus (which didn't help my sense of direction as it goes a different route than walkers), and just ran into Boots and Sainsbury quickly. This evening, after raining for svereal hours, I decided to go see if I could find Clapham High Street again. The pictures I posted were from today, so obvisouly, I found it. However, it wasn't pretty. At the risk of looking like a full blown tourist, I haven't taken many pictures, and I refuse to look at my map.

So after quite some time (and following people with grocery bags as they obviosuly just came from the Common), I finally came up to Clapham Common, but not in the same place Bob and I did yesterday. oh well.

If you see a few of the other photos, you will see what else I'm fighting-getting run over by traffic. Not only do I look the opposite way everytime to cross the road, but with all the round-a-bouts, I can't even tell where people are coming from once they tell me which direction to look! Bob says they don't give jaywalking tickets, but that cars aren't really expcected to stop for pedestrains. A few people have even gotten killed while walking on the sidewalk b/c cars don't seem to mind speed signs and just go up the curb.

Something else to mention is the World Cup. Soccer that is (or football for the rest of the world). It's apparently this weekend. I rememeber it being advertised on my Coke can when I got one at work, but that was about it in the States. Well here, it's EVERYWHERE! The Brits are so excited. Every pub has their St. George flag out to show their pride for England during the Cup. On the Common, I saw about 30 different soccer teams practicing like you would see guys throwing the football around in America (and that was just Clapham South Side...). Funny/odd thing is, their first game is against the U.S.A. this Saturday, and as like 5% of Americans could actually care (maybe more, but none of my friends at least), the country will be devastated if they lose their first game, to us, the country that doesn't care.haha. So I guess we'll see Saturday how it goes! (I've been told to go to a pub to watch as it will be a little out of hand, especially if they lose...)

Balham, Clapham, Oxford Circus and more...

Church in Balham
Harrison's Cafe in Balham
Cute shoe store off of Abbeyville Road (on our way back from a stroll around Clapham Common)
Oxford Circus
Where to go, Where to go?!?
Gotta have Faith!
Graffiti at the Arts School off Leicester Square
Near Cath Kidston store off Neal's Rd.
Mexican Restaraunt in London. If I liked Mexican food, I might try it to see how it measures up...

Well, it's taken me a little while to figure out how to post multiple photos (did you know they post them backwards??strange). The past few days haven't been too busy. On Saturday, Clair, Bob, and I went down to Balham to get some of my boring yet necessary living items like hangers and an alarm clock. The alarm clock I got from a store called Argos where you look through a catalog in the store, chose the item and pay for it (if it's in stock), then they bring it to you from the warehouse out back. Very different from shopping in the U.S.!!

Sunday I was quite lazy and layed around watching American shows on the t.v., but around 4 p.m., Bob and I decided to make better use of oursleves, and take a stroll around Clapham Common. Too bad the rain didn't want us too. We walked for about an hour and half, but as we hit the North Side (Bob's closer to the Southside, pub's in the middle area-at which we stopped to get a beer), it started to rain, so we turned around. Maybe next time we'll get all the way around.

Today was the busiest day yet. We got up and decided to go more into London. We rode the bus to Marble Arch and walked down Oxford Street. It was terribly crowded though, so we didn't much feel like shopping (well Bob never feels like shopping and I don't have lots of money to spend on that sort of thing). We walked down to Oxford Circus and walked towards Portland Place where we found the Royal Institute of British Architects (not by accident, we looked everywhere for it). We looked in the bookshop. Not suprisingly, no one offered me a job.haha. I don't much look like an Architect/designer in my jeans and converse. From here we walked down (or maybe up-who knows) towards Leicester Sqaure. We went into Foyles, the largest book store in the U.K. so I could buy some more books. Having so much free time is so foreign to me, so I finally get to get all the books I've been wanting to read! We walked around the Leicester Square area, down Neal's Road to Cath Kidtson and did a bit more shopping, before catching the tube back to Clapham, just before the rain got here!